Panchayat polls: Abhishek to hold rally in Bankura today
Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee is scheduled to conduct a mega public meeting on Wednesday in Bankura, an event that is being considered vital for solidifying ground in the Junglemahal areas ahead of both the Panchayat and Lok Sabha polls.
TMC has announced that Abhishek will hold a mega public meeting at Onda in Bankura on Wednesday. In this meeting, Abhishek is likely to highlight all the development and beneficiary schemes introduced by the state government for the development of Junglemahal.
He is likely to inform people how the Central government is allegedly depriving Bengal by blocking funds,
However, sources said that the main intention behind this meeting is to take stock of whether the party’s organisational units in the district have been doing their work following party orders.
One such aspect is checking whether the party workers are at all reaching out to the people through campaigns such as ‘Didir Suraksha Kawach’ and ‘Duare Sarkar’.
Sources said reports have reached the top leaders that workers in the lower rung have been involved in internal feuds which are affecting party work
in the district.
It is also learnt that the reason mainly is lack of supervision by a senior leader. Sources said that the party appointed the state law minister Moloy Ghatak as an unofficial observer for the Junglemahal districts of Bankura and Purulia. However, Ghatak presently is hardly being able to give time in the wake of the Enforcement Directorate repeatedly summoning him to its Delhi headquarters for questioning in connection with the coal scam.
Realising that such internal feuds need to be reigned ahead of the polls, in a virtual meeting on Monday, Abhishek interacted with all leaders from districts, including district presidents, block presidents, MLAs etc. He warned party workers against infighting and ordered that all internal feuds need to be resolved immediately.
Junglemahal, which comprises five districts of Bankura, Purulia, Jhargram, West and East Midnapore, slipped out of TMC’s grip in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls where BJP took a lead in 31 Assembly segments. However, in the 2021 Bengal Assembly elections TMC was able to win back 28 of the 40 Assembly seats in Junglemahal districts.
Nearly half of Jangalmahal’s electorate is composed of tribal communities such as the Santhals, Oraon, Kheria, Lodha, Munda Mahali and Bhil. In a bid to consolidate tribal votes, this year, the TMC brought and passed a motion in the state Assembly seeking to recognise the Sari and Sarna religions of the tribals in the state.
